Fitness and Who I am

The past couple weeks of my life have been dedicated to figuring out Who I Am.
It's so easy to get stuck in a rut, caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, and lose sight of who you are and what is most important.

When that happens, the best place to look is up.
Especially with the particular circumstances in my life right now, I have felt an incredibly strong desire and urgency to identify who I am, and to be ready, worthy, and able to be accompanied by the Spirit every moment of every day.
Once I put God first, things started to fall into place.

What the heck does this have to do with fitness?
Well, you see, I was on a really fantastic fitness kick back during the holidays. After Christmas break I kind of capsized and abandoned ship. I fell back into old habits.
For me, "stressed" literally became "desserts."
When the kids cried, whined, or barked, I turned to whatever form of chocolate or sugar I could find.
Please don't follow my example!

Now that I've refocused my attention with important priorities, and with the added incentive of my dear, sweet, little sister getting married in the very near future, I have come to the realization that something has to change. And fast.

About this same time a friend of mine invited me on morning walks with her and her kids.
Then I decided I wanted to run a half marathon (where did that come from!?)
Then she told me about her new lifestyle change diet.
Then I joined www.myfitnesspal.com. (which she recommended)

Today I am happy, healthy, and 10 pounds lighter!!

JUST KIDDING.
gotcha.

I am happy and healthy, but certainly not 10 pounds lighter.

The Website
In all seriousness, this website is actually quite amazing! You enter your stats like height, weight, activity level, and then enter your fitness goal. It pops out a formula of how many calories you should eat per day to lose x amount of pounds in a given time frame. As you go through the day, you add meals, snacks (huge database of pre-entered food you can search!), exercise, and water intake. It does some cool calculations of calories consumed, calories left for the day, and gives a: "If every day is like today, you would lose____ pounds in __ weeks!" at the end of the day.

The best part?

When you add exercise you've done, it gives you more calories you can eat for the day!

This is great for me because I like food.
When I say like, I really mean Love. Capital L, Love, love, love food.
Especially dessert. And not the light, healthy, fruity, low-on-sugar-and-fat-dessert. I like dessert that is rich, chocolately, and deliciously deadly (please don't tell me the ingredients or calorie information).

Because I like food so much I have to exercise. I have to be active. I can't sit around and be sedentary!
I have also recently come to the realization that with my family and genetic background I am at risk for some really nasty health issues later in life. Particularly diabetes. I Do. Not. Want. That.
Thus, it is really important to me to have a healthy lifestyle.

Please don't think I'm some crazy, healthy, nut. Or that I'm trying to act like one. I will be the first to tell you that I'm not. I have, however, discovered the beauty in baby steps.

Baby Steps
For awhile I was really overwhelmed about eating healthy, buying organic, not eating meat, etc. I felt the  need to change everything all at once. It didn't take long for me to realize that was not going to happen. In the meantime, I figured out that I could change or add one, new, healthy choice once a week or month.

For example, add green smoothies into our diet at least three times a week. More veggies, more fruit, more energy. Another example? Start replacing rice with Quinoa. Easy, simple, healthier and still tastes good. A third example? Cook eggs, steel cut oatmeal, or blend a smoothie for breakfasts instead of cereal. Super easy, super simple, relatively inexpensive and only takes a couple minutes longer.

With each baby step it brings us closer to being more healthy.

Why?
Other reasons this is so important to me? Well, Chiropractic is alternative medicine. It focuses solely on the body and the bio-mechanics of the body. Many Chiropractors prefer to let the body heal itself, use natural remedies, and not use prescriptions. It's a very natural way of living and healing.

Would you want to go to a Chiropractor who was unhealthy, smoking, popping pills, and eating Mcdonald's for lunch everyday? I wouldn't. We have to practice what we preach (though many doctors don't) and even though I'm not actually the doctor, I feed the doctor and greatly influence his nutritional health.

I could go on forever about health, fitness, and food. But this wraps it up for today.
If you're feeling stuck in a rut, check out myfitnesspal.com! It may be just the motivation you need to get up and going.

Best of luck and more to come!